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Shaq Barrett among NFL's best disruptors of 2019

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A case can be made that after Tom Brady, the biggest offseason move the Buccaneers made was using the franchise tag on linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who led the NFL in sacks last season with 19.5, which also broke the franchise’s single-season record.

Barrett will be coming back to a defense that also retained both Ndamukong Suh and Jason Pierre-Paul. And with a nice new salary, Barrett will look to continue to build off his 2019 success when he was one of the NFL’s best disruptors.

Nick Shook over at NFL.com listed Barrett as the seventh-best disruptor of last season, and explains why his rate dropped a bit.

“[Barrett] had 5.5 more sacks in 16 games last year than he did in 61 games with the Broncos. His 78 total disruptions paint a picture of a defender who was constantly causing problems for opposing offenses, and he capitalized on such opportunities more often than anyone else on this list, as evidenced by his sack total and sack rate… Like Aaron Donald, Barrett also played a ton of snaps (836, including 508 pass rushes), bringing his overall disruption rate down a tad. That’s a number you can look at in two different ways, though — a larger sample size is nearly always going to bring a player’s success rate down, but conversely, more pass rushes means more opportunities. Just a little food for thought before you get to typing.”

Barrett thrived in his first season under Todd Bowles and the defense as a whole should take a big step forward in 2020. The Bucs used their second-round pick in last month’s draft to select safety Antoine Winfield Jr. out of Minnesota. Along with Devin White and Sean Murphy-Bunting, this Tampa Bay defense is starting to form its own identity with a mixture of youth and veteran leadership.

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